Little Martha

The Allman Brothers Band did not have many “mellow” songs during their long and illustrious career. They were a hard-driving southern rock, blues and soulful group, known for long melodious live shows – numerous of which I have attended. One song that does not fit their “normal” category is a thoughtful guitar instrumental called “Little Martha,’’ the last song on their iconic “Eat a Peach” album. Give it a listen here; it has been called the “most perfect guitar song ever written,” and after you listen to it you may find that’s difficult to argue. But hey. This post isn’t about music history. It’s about life at the end of another academic year, which of course is more than just “another academic year.”

Marist College held its double-barreled commencement exercises on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend; both days had epically terrible weather – for late May, but really for any time of year. Is there any worse weather than cold, driving rain? I would posit to say no. However, I don’t think our graduates and their families minded as much as maybe they would have normally. For the past 15 months, if you gave them the choice of “in-person graduation, in miserable weather” or “no graduation at all” (see Class of 2020), methinks they’d take option #1, 100 times out of 100.

After going through this cycle 30 times -- 30 years of hugs and goodbyes and see you at weddings and road races and stay in touch, will ya? moments -- it doesn’t get easier or less poignant. The hugs. The tears. The goodbyes. This year, though, was different. Of course, it was different. It seems like we’ve had one long drawn-out goodbye. So much loss, so many goodbyes, even before commencement. Seasons lost. Practices lost. Moments lost. And so, this Class of 2021 will be remembered for that, more than anything. We weren’t permitted to attend commencement; just as well, with the weather! We were, however, fortunate to have a post-graduation dinner on Sunday night with Draney and Graham, two members of the Class of 2021. Along with their awesome parents, we had a wonderful meal and drinks at Terrapin restaurant in Rhinebeck. As it drew time to leave, way past my normal bedtime, there was talk of cake and champagne at their off-campus house. Pffft. No thanks, I’ll pass. Drop me off at home, thanks for everything, there’s a book and a pillow anxiously awaiting my arrival, thank you very much.

As I got up from the table and we posed for pictures and hugged and cried a little into the drizzly northern Dutchess County evening, the background music at the restaurant was an oddly comforting guitar instrumental. I recognized it instantly. “Little Martha.” Great song. Great guys. Great families. I’ll think of them every time I hear that song now. I’ll think of the rest of the Class of 2021 often, probably when we return to meets in the fall and winter and spring, wondering what good times – literally and figuratively – they could have gotten but that were missed. “I’ll miss you” is one of the clichés of commencement weekend. But again, thinking back to the Class of 2020 and now to the Class of 2021, the word “miss” will always have multiple meanings.

Alumni gathering(s): Save the date(s)!

We’d like to think our Marist Running Alumni Family is loyal and tight knit, and we’ll have the opportunity to validate those awesome and wonderful beliefs later this fall. Of course! Some don’t have to wait that long, as a few “alumni weddings” are pending in the coming weeks and months (and spilling into 2022 as well!). As the world slowly begins to emerge from the grips of this global pandemic, normalcy is also gradually beginning to blossom as well. So many touchstone moments were canceled and lost in 2020 and into 2021. “Save-the-date” moments are beginning to come back, and let this be one of them: Please plan on returning to the Marist College campus for the weekend of Friday through Sunday, October 22-24, for Homecoming Weekend. For members of the Class of 1986 (which includes this old coach), it’s our 35^th reunion tour. However! For all of us in the track and cross country world, it’s much more than that. Along with Joan Gambeski in the advancement office at Marist, we have been planning a huge, colossal – and long overdue! – track and cross country alumni reunion, with a ceremony on Saturday morning to honor the formation of the track team way back more than 50 years ago. Planning for this was in the works last year, but obviously those plans were scuttled by you-know-what.

This is going to be big, and this is going to be fun. There will be long-ago alums from the late 1960s and early 1970s. We’d like to make this a huge celebration. We’re inviting all the men from the early days of the program from 1960s through the mid-1980s, and the women and men from the mid-1980s through the present. We are attempting to get all living coaches back on campus for this, along with as many of YOU back on campus. The goal will be to intermingle the many generations of Marist Running on one morning (Saturday, in the new addition to the McCann Center) and one weekend (throughout campus). Exact details on the entire weekend are still being ironed out, but this will be a track alumni-themed focus to the weekend. This will be for US. So please! Don’t wait for your “reunion” year to come back to campus – come back THIS year. We could all use some camaraderie and hugs and good feelings and socialization, after a long and difficult slog of the recent past. Start spreading the word on this.

Also, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, normalcy is also beginning to creep back into the road racing scene. The New York City and Boston Marathons are back on the calendar. Locally, the Dutchess County Classic will be up and running again in September (Sunday, September 19). This race has always been a magnet for alums to come back and race in the 5km, half marathon and full marathon. The latest iteration of the Classic runs from Dutchess Community College, just up the hill from Marist. We expect a decent to strong turnout of Marist Running alums. There was already a long thread on the 1997-era alums group text about coming back to race. But talk about feeling old … there were numerous texts about creaking, arthritic joints and a pending hip replacement surgery, yikes! Speaking of “save-the-date” moments, an informal but awesome tradition has begun to emerge around the Classic, and that is a post-race gathering at the Town of Poughkeepsie residence of one Mr. Bucket (also known in some circles as “David Swift”). Consider that weekend a “pre-game” for Homecoming Weekend.

The bottom line is this: The fact that we are “saving dates” and planning for future events? Just indicates that things are getting better by the day, which is neat.

IC4A Championships: Complete results

The track season ended quietly on a windy and warm day at IC4As. Our 4x800 relay team was never really in the race from the start and hung on to place ninth out of 10 teams in the race. Graduate student Brandon Rizzo continued to struggle in his specialty event (400 hurdles), still not 100 percent from hip surgery, lack of actual hurdle practice and a nagging hamstring injury. We remain grateful for the opportunity to participate in a few meets. We hope to transform that gratitude into hunger for a renewed sense of competitiveness, as we enter the summer and prepare for the 2021-2022 school year. We leave you with a bittersweet photo of an old coach (me) and a stubbornly loyal athlete (Hawker), who went down swinging as only Hawker can. We had our ups and downs through the years, but I remained loyal to him because he remained fiercely loyal to us. We will miss “hangin’ with Hawk” …

IC4A Championships

Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16

AIC, Springfield, MA

Day 1, results and splits

100-meter dash trials

13. Jeremy Mooney 10.98 *school record, old record 11.02 by Mooney, last week

800-meter run

27. Roshan Kalikasingh 1:57.34 (57.05, 1:00.30)

10,000-meter run

24. Matthew Hartman 31:39.14

1:11.79, 1:11.01, 1:10.81, 1:11.35 = 4:44.94

1:12.00, 1:15.05, 1:13.51, 1:13.28 = 9:38.76

1:15.88, 1:17.73, 1:17.08, 1:17.66 = 14:47.10

1:17.28, 1:16.32, 1:17.30, 1:19.19 = 19:57.17

1:17.19, 1:19.90, 1:19.18, 1:19.25 = 25:12.67

1:17.28, 1:16.91, 1:18.70, 1:17.96 = 30:23.51

1:15.64 = 31:39.14

400-meter hurdles

17. Brandon Rizzo 58.94

3,200-meter relay

9. Marist (Aidan Sweeney 2:02.45, Roshan Kalikasingh 1:59.84, Thomas Dinsmore 2:03.70, Matthew Hawker 2:02.98) 8:08.85

ECAC Championships: Results and splits

Wait. Didn’t we just start this season? Anyway. The women’s track season has came to a close, along with the awesome running careers of senior Gianna Tedeschi and fifth-year seniors Ali Bartolotta and Boushra Belkhir, who all ran their final races in Marist uniforms on Saturday afternoon. Gianna and Ali earned ECAC points in their final races. We are proud of them all and incredibly sad at their departure from our program, tinged with a feeling of loss at the meets and seasons that were shuttered by the pandemic. But hey, at least we got these last few weeks together as a team!

ECAC Championships

Saturday, May 15

AIC, Springfield, MA

Results and splits

5,000-meter run

15. Boushra Belkhir 18:25.87

40.93, 1:22.58, 1:22.68, 1:24.00, 1:26.01, 1:27.96, 1:30.17, 1:32.20, 1:32.44, 1:31.69, 1:34.04, 1:32.99, 1:28.24

19. Talia Cutrone 19:51.42

41.05, 1:25.64, 1:29.73, 1:33.08, 1:36.16, 1:36.92, 1:40.48, 1:40.29, 1:41.10, 1:40.24, 1:38.21, 1:35.74, 1:32.84

10,000-meter run

2. Gianna Tedeschi 36:00.36 *All East

1:21.54, 1:25.64, 1:23.95, 1:24.38 = 5:35.49

1:25.74, 1:25.21, 1:24.84, 1:25.72 = 11:16.98

1:27.09, 1:26.21, 1:27.67, 1:27.84 = 17:05.77

1:27.44, 1:28.53, 1:29.68, 1:29.74 = 23:01.15

1:30.02, 1:29.17, 1:29.61, 1:28.33 = 28:58.25

1:29.04, 1:27.82, 1:25.68, 1:23.58 = 34:44.35

1:16.02 = 36:00.36

16. Ellie Davis 41:43.34

1:35.29, 1:40.28, 1:32.34, 1:36.42 = 6:24.31

1:38.44, 1:37.52, 1:39.02, 1:38.94 = 12:58.22

1:39.96, 1:39.77, 1:40.39, 1:40.34 = 19:38.66

1:40.13, 1:41.67, 1:41.80, 1:42.13 = 26:24.36

1:42.69, 1:43.09, 1:43.78, 1:42.05 = 33:15.95

1:41.65, 1:42.81, 1:42.91, 1:41.04 = 40:04.35

1:39.00 = 41:43.34

3,000-meter steeplechase

6. Ali Bartolotta 11:03.48 *All East

45.82, 2:10.76 (1:24.95), 3:35.17 (1:24.41), 5:01.98 (1:26.81), 6:34.15 (1:32.17), 8:05.44 (1:31.30), 9:36.62 (1:31.19), 11:03.48 (1:26.86)

 

IC4A Championships: Day 1 results -- 10.98 for Jeremy Mooney!

Even though it wasn’t his best executed race, it was his best time – and the first time in school history a sprinter has broken 11 seconds for the 100-meter dash. Congrats to junior captain Jeremy Mooney for breaking his own school record in the 100, clocking in at 10.98 seconds and shaving 0.04 off his time from last week’s MAAC finals. Jeremy worked extremely hard during the endless pauses from practice and he emerged in our truncated season with some breakthrough races. On Saturday afternoon, he felt his start wasn’t perfect and his last few meters were a bit tight too. But he bulled through for the fastest time in school history, which is awesome.

Freshman Roshan Kalikasingh got dragged out at a crazy fast pace for the first 200 meters of his 800-meter race and never fully recovered from that early blitz. It was a good experience for Roshan to race at ICs, and he’ll get another crack at it on Sunday afternoon in the 4x800 relay.

Finally, in the evening’s last event – the 10,000-meter run – Matt Hartman went out at a breakneck fast pace for the first 1600m and 3200m, and it cost him a shot at a personal-best time. Hartman hung on gamely and kept fighting, also gaining valuable experience in a shortened season.

IC4A Championships

Saturday, May 15

AIC, Springfield, MA

Day 1, results and splits

100-meter dash trials

13. Jeremy Mooney 10.98 *school record, old record 11.02 by Mooney, last week

800-meter run

27. Roshan Kalikasingh 1:57.34 (57.05, 1:00.30)

10,000-meter run

24. Matthew Hartman 31:39.14

1:11.79, 1:11.01, 1:10.81, 1:11.35 = 4:44.94

1:12.00, 1:15.05, 1:13.51, 1:13.28 = 9:38.76

1:15.88, 1:17.73, 1:17.08, 1:17.66 = 14:47.10

1:17.28, 1:16.32, 1:17.30, 1:19.19 = 19:57.17

1:17.19, 1:19.90, 1:19.18, 1:19.25 = 25:12.67

1:17.28, 1:16.91, 1:18.70, 1:17.96 = 30:23.51

1:15.64 = 31:39.14

Day 2 entries and schedule

1:10p: IC4A 400 hurdle final – Brandon Rizzo

2:45p: IC4A 4x800 relay – Aidan Sweeney, Roshan Kalikasingh, Thomas Dinsmore, Matthew Hawker (alternate = Brendan Dearie)

ECAC/IC4A Championships: What's next

In a different year, the ECAC/IC4A Championship meet comes at us in a different format. There are no qualifying standards. Rather, the top-32 entrants that are declared (entered in advance) in each event will “qualify” for the meet. Below is the time schedule and list of athletes who we entered and who made the top-32 cut in their respective events. We are thrilled to have one more week to “play track” after so many weeks of being dormant.

ECAC/IC4A Championships

Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16

AIC, Springfield, MA

Entries and schedule of events

Saturday, May 15

2:05p: IC4A 100-meter dash trials – Jeremy Mooney

2:40p: IC4A 800-meter final – Roshan Kalikasingh

4:00p: ECAC 3,000 steeplechase – Ali Bartolotta

5:20p: ECAC 5,000 run – Boushra Belkhir and Talia Cutrone

6:25p: ECAC 10,000 run – Gianna Tedeschi and Ellie Davis

7:15p: IC4A 10,000 run – Matthew Hartman

Sunday, May 16

1:10p: IC4A 400 hurdle final – Brandon Rizzo

2:45p: IC4A 4x800 relay – Aidan Sweeney, Roshan Kalikasingh, Thomas Dinsmore, Matthew Hawker (alternate = Brendan Dearie)

MAAC Championships: Men's complete results -- 100-meter school record!

Junior captain Jeremy Mooney grabbed a school record in the 100-meter dash, placing fourth in 11.02 seconds, bettering Jesse Aprile’s mark of 11.08 from 2013. That was the biggest highlight of Day 2, on a weekend in which just making it to the meet was a highlight! We had some strong relay performances in all three relays, and the 5km guys ran strong and tough as well. So yeah, after having been inactive for so long, having a positive weekend at Rider was gratifying. Our athletes are competitors. They switched from “just happy to be there” to “hungry for success” very quickly.

MAAC Outdoor Championships

Saturday and Sunday, May 8-9

Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ

Men’s results and splits

100-meter dash

4. Jeremy Mooney 11.02 *school record, old record 11.08 by Jesse Aprile, 2013

18. KJ Thomas 11.32

21. Sam Higuera 11.80

200-meter dash

9. Jeremy Mooney 22.41

23. Nate Rodriguez 24.28

400-meter dash

12. Roman Katona 51.59

800-meter run

11. Roshan Kalikasingh 1:56.02 (opening lap = 58.1)

18. Aidan Sweeney 1:58.54 (opening lap = 58.1)

20. Matthew Hawker 1:59.55 (opening lap = 56.9)

28. Thomas Dinsmore 2:03.14 (opening lap = 59.4)

30. James Moehringer 2:07.01 (opening lap = 58.2)

31. Cole Ziskind 2:07.15 (opening lap = 58.9)

1,500-meter run

14. Brendan Dearie 4:02.63

63.8, 2:09 (65.2), 3:13 (64), 4:02.63 (final 400 = 64)

19. Dominic Mastromatteo 4:09.60

64.2, 2:10 (65.8), 3:16 (66), 4:09.60

23. Tyler Perry 4:16.07

64.5, 2:12 (67.5), 3:25 (73), 4:16.07

5,000-meter run

17. Matt Hartman 15:17.83

70, 2:25, 3:38, 4:51

6:03, 7:14, 8:27, 9:42

10:57, 12:12, 13:28, 14:43

15:17.83

25. Patrick Kutch 15:45.35

73, 2:28, 3:41, 4:55

6:10, 7:26, 8:43, 10:00

11:18, 12:37, 13:54, 15:10

15:45.35

27. John Ignacz 15:47.89

72, 2:28, 3:41, 4:55

6:10, 7:26, 8:42, 10:00

11:18, 12:37, 13:55, 15:12

15:47.89

30. Jack Parsons 16:03.55

72, 2:28, 3:42, 4:56

6:11, 7:28, 8:48, 10:08

11:28, 12:48, 14:08, 15:26

16:03.55

10,000-meter run

11. Matthew Hartman 31:18.13

73, 2:28, 3:41, 4:53

6:07, 7:20, 8:34, 9:46

10:59, 12:13, 13:26, 14:39

15:51, 17:04, 18:19, 19:36

20:53, 22:11, 23:29, 24:46

26:04, 27:23, 28:44, 30:03

31:18.13

1600m splits: 4:53, 4:54, 4:53, 4:57, 5:10, 5:17

19. John Ignacz 32:45.15

75, 2:29, 3:44, 4:57

6:13, 7:29, 8:44, 10:00

11:19, 12:39, 13:58, 15:18

16:37, 17:56, 19:16, 20:39

21:59, 23:20, 24:43, 26:04

27:24, 28:46, 30:08, 31:28

32:45.15

1600m splits: 4:57, 5:03, 5:18, 5:21, 5:25, 5:24

400-meter hurdles

11. Brandon Rizzo 58.05

3,000-meter steeplechase

8. Patrick Kutch 10:05.12

80, 2:41 (81), 4:03 (82), 5:30 (87), 7:00 (90), 8:28 (88), 10:05.12

400-meter relay

5. Marist (KJ Thomas, Sam Higuera, Brandon Rizzo, Jeremy Mooney) 43.27

1,600-meter relay

5. Marist (Roman Katona 50.6, Brandon Rizzo 51.7, Cole Ziskind 55.0, Thomas Dinsmore 52.2) 3:30.31

3,200-meter relay

7. Marist (Aidan Sweeney 1:58.48, Roshan Kalikasingh 1:55.75, Matthew Hawker 2:00.70, Brendan Dearie 2:02.26) 7:57.65

Long jump

13. KJ Thomas 6.26 meters

Javelin

8. Liam Haggerty 39.82 meters

Men’s team scores

1-Monmouth 295.5, 2. Rider 217.5, 3. Iona 147, 4. St. Peter’s 48, 5. Manhattan 40, 6. Siena 31, 7 Marist 17, 8. Canisius 16

MAAC Championships: Women's complete results

Our weekend at Rider concluded with two solid relay performances, a fourth-place finish in the high jump from freshman Grace O’Neill, a PR for fifth-year senior Boushra Belkhir in the 5km, and a co-outstanding track performer of the meet for Gianna Tedeschi, after her dominant 10km race on Saturday night. For an abbreviated, two-week season, we’ll take any highlights we can get, and we had a fun weekend down there. Neat.

MAAC Outdoor Championships

Saturday and, May 8-9

Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ

Women’s results and splits

100-meter dash

16. Gianna Ferrara 13.52

17. Alyssa Ridgway 13.63

18. Sydney Villani 13.83

20. Caitlin McCann 14.34

21. Kathryn Tenney 15.04

800-meter run

19. Greta Stuckey 2:28.05

5,000-meter run

16. Boushra Belkhir 18:02.07

84, 2:50, 4:14, 5:39

7:04, 8:29, 9:55, 11:24

12:54, 14:25, 15:54, 17:17

18:02.07

21. Talia Cutrone 18:38.63

85, 2:50, 4:22, 5:51

7:22, 8:52, 10:23, 11:56

13:29, 15:00, 16:30, 17:15

18:38.63

25. Sara Leavens 19:31.14

85, 2:54, 4:25, 5:57

7:31, 9:06, 10:43, 12:20

13:58, 15:35, 17:10, 18:47

19:31.14

10,000-meter run

1-Gianna Tedeschi 35:48.34

82, 2:49 (87), 4:13 (84), 5:38 (85)

7:03 (85), 8:28 (86), 9:53 (85), 11:18 (85)

12:44 (86), 14:09 (85), 15:35 (86), 17:02 (87)

18:27 ((85), 19:54 (87), 21:21 (87), 22:49 (88)

24:17 (88), 25:45 (88), 27:15 (90), 28:42 (87)

30:09 (87), 31:34 (85), 33:01 (87), 34:25 (84)

35:48.34 (83.34)

1600m splits: 5:38, 5:40, 5:44, 5:47, 5:53, 5:43

14. Ellie Davis 39:51.20

91, 3:06, 4:45, 6:22

8:01, 9:34, 11:07, 12:40

14:13, 15:47, 17:24, 18:59

20:37, 22:14, 23:51, 25:29

27:07, 28:45, 30:22, 31:59

33:35, 35:11, 36:48, 38:19

39:51.20

1600m splits: 6:22, 6:18, 6:19, 6:30, 6:30, 6:20

3,000-meter steeplechase

2. Alexandra Bartolotta 10:55.73

84, 2:54 (90), 4:26 (92), 5:59 (93), 7:34 (95), 9:10 (96), 10:55.73

400-meter relay

7. Marist (Gianna Ferrara, Natalie Tidler, Grace Cepeda, Isabella Azar-Brandes) 53.69

1,600-meter relay

7. Marist (Grace Cepeda 65.4, Natalie Tidler 62.0, Isabella Azar-Brandes 64.7, Greta Stuckey 62.5) 4:15.14

Long jump

18. Alyssa Ridgway 4.54 meters

21. Gianna Ferrara 4.41 meters

25. Maria Rivell 4.07 meters

Javelin

13. Briana Koutros 28.00 meters

High jump

4. Grace O’Neill 1.50

Women’s team scores

1-Monmouth 204.5, 2. Quinnipiac 163, 3. Rider 150.5, 4. Manhattan 83, 5. Iona 61, 6. St. Peter’s 51, 7. Siena 34, 8. Niagara 32, 9. Marist 27, 10. Canisius 11

 

MAAC Championships, Day 1: Gianna T wins 10km!

As soon as the men’s 10km race was getting completed, the skies over Rider University opened up into a strong and heavy rainstorm, just in time for the women’s 10km race! Gianna Tedeschi laughed and smiled a “why me?” smile, so fitting of the spring 2021 semester. And then she went out and dominated the race from start to finish, taking home the MAAC title in her final MAAC meet. A few events prior to that, her good friend Ali Bartolotta also exited the MAAC stage with a top finish, taking second in the 3,000 steeplechase. For a pair of outstanding women who have contributed so much to our program, it was great to see this.

On the men’s side, we had two 8^th-place scorers (Liam Haggerty, javelin; Patrick Kutch, 3,000-steeple), one qualifier for Sunday’s final (Jeremy Mooney, 100-meter dash) and some solid individual performances (Hartman in the 10km, Roshan and Sweeney in the 800, Dearie in the 1,500). No matter the weather, we look forward to a return trip to Rider tomorrow morning.

MAAC Outdoor Championships

Saturday, May 8

Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ

Day 1 results, women

100-meter dash

16. Gianna Ferrara 13.52

17. Alyssa Ridgway 13.63

18. Sydney Villani 13.83

20. Caitlin McCann 14.34

21. Kathryn Tenney 15.04

800-meter run

19. Greta Stuckey 2:28.05

10,000-meter run

1-Gianna Tedeschi 35:48.34

14. Ellie Davis 39:51.20

3,000-meter steeplechase

2. Alexandra Bartolotta 10:55.73

Long jump

18. Alyssa Ridgway 4.54 meters

21. Gianna Ferrara 4.41 meters

25. Maria Rivell 4.07 meters

Javelin

13. Briana Koutros 28.00 meters

Women’s team scores (after 6 final events)

1-Monmouth 61, 2. Rider 56.5, 3. Quinnipiac 37.5, 4. Manhattan 29, 5. Marist 18, 6. Siena 14, 7. Iona 9, 8. St. Peter’s 8

Day 1 results, men

100-meter dash

7. Jeremy Mooney 11.13 *qualified for finals

18. KJ Thomas 11.32

21. Sam Higuera 11.80

200-meter dash

9. Jeremy Mooney 22.41

23. Nate Rodriguez 24.28

400-meter dash

12. Roman Katona 51.59

800-meter run

11. Roshan Kalikasingh 1:56.02

18. Aidan Sweeney 1:58.54

20. Matthew Hawker 1:59.55

28. Thomas Dinsmore 2:03.14

30. James Moehringer 2:07.01

31. Cole Ziskind 2:07.15

1,500-meter run

14. Brendan Dearie 4:02.63

19. Dominic Mastromatteo 4:09.60

23. Tyler Perry 4:16.07

10,000-meter run

11. Matthew Hartman 31:18.13

19. John Ignacz 32:45.15

400-meter hurdles

11. Brandon Rizzo 58.05

3,000-meter steeplechase

8. Patrick Kutch 10:05.12

Long jump

13. KJ Thomas 6.26 meters

Javelin

8. Liam Haggerty 39.82 meters

Men’s team scores (after 6 final events)

1-Monmouth 99.5, 2. Rider 60.5, 3. Iona and Siena 18, 5. St. Peter’s 12, 6. Manhattan 11, 7. Canisius 7, 8. Marist 2

MAAC Championships: Order of events and entries

Assuming all goes well with our pre-event testing and travel protocols, we will be traveling to Rider University on Saturday morning for Day 1 of the MAAC Outdoor Track Championships. Here is the order of events, schedule and Marist entries as of right now. This will be updated as needed over the coming days. 

MAAC Outdoor Championships

Saturday and Sunday, May 8-9

Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ

Saturday field events

1 p.m., men’s long jump: KJ Thomas (flight 1), Lukas Bussetti (flight 1)

3:30 p.m., men’s javelin: Liam Haggerty (flight 1)

4 p.m., women’s long jump: Maria Rivell, Alexa Spain, Gianna Ferrara, Alyssa Ridgway (all flight 1)

5:30 p.m., women’s javelin: Briana Koutros (flight 1)

Saturday track events

1:20 p.m., men’s 1,500-meter trials: Tyler Perry, Brendan Dearie, Dominic Mastromatteo (all heat 3 of 3)

2:25 p.m., men’s 400-meter dash trials: Zachary Ropes (heat 1 of 4), Roman Katona (heat 1 of 4)

3:10 p.m., men’s 100-meter dash trials: KJ Thomas (heat 1 of 3), Sam Higuera (heat 2 of 3), Jeremy Mooney (heat 2 of 3), Lukas Bussetti (heat 3 of 3)

3:25 p.m., women’s 100-meter dash trials: Alyssa Ridgway (heat 1 of 3), Kathryn Tenney (heat 1 of 3), Gianna Ferrara (heat 1 of 3), Caitlin McCann (heat 2 of 3), Bethany Zekraus (heat 2 of 3), Sydney Villani (heat 3 of 3), Sydney Bradle (heat 3 of 3)

3:40 p.m., men’s 800-meter trials: Matthew Hawker (heat 1 of 5), Cole Ziskind (heat 2 of 5), James Moehringer (heat 3 of 5), Roshan Kalikasingh (heat 4 of 5), Thomas Dinsmore (heat 5 of 5), Aidan Sweeney (heat 5 of 5)

4 p.m., women’s 800-meter trials: Greta Stuckey (heat 5 of 5)

4:20 p.m., men’s 400-meter hurdle trials: Brandon Rizzo (heat 2 of 2)

4:50 p.m., men’s 200-meter dash trials: Nate Rodriguez (heat 1 of 4), Jeremy Mooney (heat 2 of 4)

5:15 p.m., men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase: Patrick Kutch (heat 1 of 1)

5:35 p.m., women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase: Alexandra Bartolotta (heat 1 of 1)

5:55 p.m., men’s 10,000-meter run: John Ignacz, Matthew Hartman, Ramsey Little, Ian Wiesinger (heat 1 of 1)

6:35 p.m., women’s 10,000-meter run: Gianna Tedeschi, Ellie Davis (heat 1 of 1)

Sunday field events

12 noon, women’s high jump: Grace O’Neill, Anne Bekasi

Sunday track events

12 noon, men’s 4x100 relay: Marist A

12:05 p.m., women’s 4x100 relay: Marist A

2:25 p.m., men’s 5,000-meter run: Jack Parsons, Matt Hartman, Patrick Kutch, Ramsey Little, John Ignacz, Dominic Mastromatteo

2:50 p.m., women’s 5,000-meter run: Boushra Belkhir, Talia Cutrone, Sara Leavens

3:10 p.m., men’s 4x800 relay: Marist A

3:25 p.m., women’s 4x800 relay: Marist A

3:40 p.m., men’s 4x400 relay: Marist A

3:55 p.m., women’s 4x400 relay: Marist A

 

  

MAAC Championships: No spectators!

We are looking forward to attending and participating in the MAAC Outdoor Track Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Rider University. Unfortunately, do the anticipated large number of athletes, coaches and officials, no spectators (family, friends, etc.) will be permitted at Rider for the meet this weekend. This is a bummer, as our family support has been so strong through the years. But again, we should choose to be grateful for what we have (a chance to compete in this championship) rather than what we cannot have (our usual full championship experience). A return to "normal" is an elusive concept. We'll take it in small chunks. The meet starts on Saturday at 12 noon (field events) and 1:20p (track events) and resumes on Sunday at 10a (field events) and 12 noon (track events). A full time schedule will be posted here after entries are finalized. 

Stockton Osprey Twilight: Men's results

Osprey Twilight Meet

Stockton University

Galloway Township, NJ

Friday, April 30, 2021

Men’s results

100-meter dash

1-Jeremy Mooney 11.36

4-Lukas Bussetti 11.94

9-Sam Higuera 12.16

11. KJ Thomas 12.30

200-meter dash

10. Nate Rodriguez 24.65

400-meter dash

3. Roman Katona 51.71

800-meter run

2. Roshan Kalikasingh 1:55.89 (58.08, 57.81)

4. Thomas Dinsmore 1:58.81 (59.08, 59.73)

16. Tyler Perry 2:06.95 (59.59, 1:07.36)

1,500-meter run

2-Aidan Sweeney 4:11.19 (52.32, 1:07.90, 1:07.41, 1:03.57)

3-Brendan Dearie 4:11.81 (52.18, 1:08.24, 1:06.70, 1:04.70)

3,000-meter run

1-Dominic Mastromatteo 8:57.39 (37.61, 1:12.45, 1:12.81, 1:11.69, 1:11.71, 1:11.44, 1:10.59, 1:09.12)

2-Jack Parsons 9:21.68 (37.38, 1:12.70, 1:13.29, 1:13.11, 1:16.10, 1:18.87, 1:18.50, 1:11.76)

5,000-meter run

2-Matt Hartman 15:54.25 (37.50, 1:18.73, 1:17.46, 1:17.05, 1:18.12, 1:15.49, 1:14.70, 1:15.82, 1:15.35, 1:14.19, 1:17.50, 1:17.13, 1:15.27)

4-Ian Wiesinger 16:06.80

5-Jon Kittredge 16:09.49 (37.69, 1:18.93, 1:17.43, 1:16.94, 1:18.02, 1:15.47, 1:15.12, 1:16.26, 1:17.68, 1:18.75, 1:19.92, 1:20.68, 1:16.52)

6-John Ignacz 16:12.92

7-Patrick Kutch 16:15.02

400 hurdles

1-Brandon Rizzo 58.45

1,600-meter relay

1-Marist (Roman Katona 53.37, Roshan Kalikasingh 50.77, Thomas Dinsmore 52.99, Brandon Rizzo 51.91) 3:29.03

Long jump

2-Lukas Bussetti 6.59 meters

Javelin

16. Liam Haggerty 38.00 meters

Stockton Osprey Twilight: Women's results

Osprey Twilight Meet

Stockton University

Galloway Township, NJ

Friday, April 30, 2021

Women’s results

100-meter dash

6. Gianna Ferrara 14.12

9. Alyssa Ridgway 14.33

400-meter dash

4. Natalie Tidler 1:04.42

6. Isabella Azar-Brandes 1:05.12

7. Grace Cepeda 1:05.66

800-meter run

1-Greta Stuckey 2:27.46 (1:11.95, 1:15.51)

3,000-meter run

1-Gianna Tedeschi 10:17.23 (41.62, 1:21.13, 1:20.59, 1:22.71, 1:22.39, 1:24.34, 1:24.35, 1:20.13)

2-Ali Bartolotta 10:29.52 (41.81, 1:21.19, 1:20.91, 1:24.35, 1:25.02, 1:26.72, 1:25.03, 1:24.52)

3-Boushra Belkhir 10:44.07 (41.97, 1:23.28, 1:24.45, 1:26.77, 1:27.39, 1:28.22, 1:27.24, 1:24.78)

4-Talia Cutrone 11:01.33 (42.24, 1:26.14, 1:25.92, 1:30.50, 1:31.24, 1:30.12, 1:29.39, 1:25.79)

5,000-meter run

1-Sara Leavens 20:15.48 (41.39, 1:31.87, 1:33.13, 1:35.48, 1:36.19, 1:38.67, 1:40.24, 1:41.49, 1:41.57, 1:40.52, 1:40.22, 1:39.93, 1:34.84)

400-meter relay

3. Marist (Ridgway, Ferrara, Villani, Zekraus) 55.12

High jump

5-Grace O’Neill 1.45m

6-Anne Bekasi 1.40m

Long jump

17. Maria Rivell 4.21m

Javelin

3. Briana Koutros 26.93m

Stockton Osprey Twilight: The answer, my friend ...

The wind was so strong, the trees swayed angrily in the stiff breeze on the campus of Stockton University in Galloway Township, near Atlantic City, NJ. At one point, it started raining sideways on one side of the track while the other side of the track was sunny. This was soon followed by a rainbow, which appeared across the horizon in time to see Greta Stuckey winning the 800-meter race. The wind never died down. It strongly affected all events from start to finish. And yet, we were grateful to be back in Atlantic County, back on a track, back participating in an outdoor track meet for the first time in nearly two years. We had more than gratitude swirling in the wind yesterday afternoon and early evening. We had some good performances – especially in events where our athletes had no formal training of any kind for weeks and months at a time -- hurdles, jumps, throws, stuff like that. And so our long-awaited outdoor track season begins just as soon as April ends. It’s a weird feeling, to be starting this week and racing at MAACs next week. We’ll take weird (Sara's sunglasses?). We’ll take anything!

Stockton Osprey Twilight: Time schedule

Later today in southern New Jersey, our Running (and Jumping and Throwing) Red Foxes will return to action after an endless hiatus. Our first outdoor track meet in nearly two years will be at Stockton University, where our good friend Nick McDonough is one of the coaches and meet organizers for today. Nick does a great job of concocting an accurate time schedule based on actual entries, so here is that. Also, if interested, here is a link to the live results. Our JTR buses will not have Wifi, so results postings here on the blog will have to wait till late tonight or early Saturday morning.

Stockton Osprey Twilight

Galloway, NJ

Friday, April 30, 2021

Time schedule/order of events

400H    W     4:15

400H     M     4:22

3k SC    W     4:30

3k SC    M     4:45

4x1        W     5:00

4x 1       M     5:05

400        W     5:10

400       M      5:18

800        W      5:30

800        M      5:38

100h      W      5:50

110H      M      6:10

100m     W      6:22

100m     M      6:30

1500       W      6:45

1500       M      6:55

200         W      7:07

200         M      7:15

3k           W        7:25

3k            M       7:40

4x4          W      7:55

4x4          M       8:01

5k           M        8:10

           

 

Spring (sports) has sprung

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We’ve been in a holding pattern for the past week or so, eagerly and anxiously awaiting the resumption of outdoor track season practice and competition. Meanwhile, most other spring sports have Marist have been sprung – and are doing quite nicely, thank you very much! Tennis, baseball, softball, water polo and lacrosse have all returned to action. Men’s lacrosse and water polo are undefeated in their truncated schedules so far. Baseball and softball are progressing nicely in endless doubleheader matchups. But hey, let’s be real. If you are reading this, you are wondering about track. We were too, every damn day, this past week/month/year. We were finally cleared to practice on Friday afternoon and we had our first official practices (since March 9, which seems like a decade ago) on Saturday morning. In terms of meets? Talk about a truncated schedule! How about THIS. If all goes well, here are our scheduled competitions:

Friday, April 30: Osprey Twilight meet at Stockton University (Galloway, NJ)

Saturday/Sunday, May 8-9: MAAC Outdoor Track Championships, Rider University (Lawrenceville, NJ)

Saturday/Sunday, May 15-16: ECAC/IC4A Championships (for qualifiers), Springfield, MA

And lastly, if we are fortunate enough to get NCAA preliminary round qualifier(s), that would be the last week of May in Jacksonville, FL. That would be neat. But for right now, we’re just hoping to get to a meet. Any meet. Before the season that hasn’t even started comes to its conclusion.

Omar and Billy are fast in the mud

Congrats to Marist Running Alums Omar Perez (17:14) and Bill Posch (17:18) for their strong races at the Druthers Helderberg to Hudson 5km on Friday afternoon up in Altamont on what the Albany Running Exchange called a "wet and chilly evening" at the Altamont Fairgrounds. The start/finish area turned into a cross country style mudfest, as you can see. This was an early birthday present for Bill, who turned 30 on Saturday. Amazing how fast the time goes. We remember when they were high school kids. Now, they're all grown up. Neat. 

The write/right stuff

Thanks to sophomore Jon Kittredge for sharing this Marist Circle article – written by fellow sophomore and teammate Greta Stuckey – about the vaccine clinic earlier this week. Greta is a frequent – and excellent – contributor to the Circle. Her articles are well-researched and well-written, which is appreciated by this old-school former/current journalist (and occasional adjunct journalism instructor). Kitt was a source in Greta’s story; he got his first dose of the Moderna vaccine at the clinic earlier in the week. A quick glance at the Marist Covid Dashboard numbers (don’t worry, I obsessively refresh the page only about 100 times each morning/early afternoon) reveals a continuation of the miraculous turnaround in the numbers: From Wednesday to Thursday, there were only four (4!) new positive cases and the active case numbers dropped by nine (9!) down to 71, which is about half what it was last week at this time.

Last week at this time, we were resigned to the very real prospect of no outdoor track season. Athletically, we remain on PAUSE, which means we had to pull out of our participation in Sunday’s Monmouth track meet. But we are brimming with hope that the PAUSE will be lifted and we will resume practices (and, eventually competitions) as soon as possible. We are running out of calendar, but there is still time to make something of this season, if given the chance.

Opening Day

What a weird feeling. Maybe I think too much. Yesterday morning, as I was driving to the Hyde Park Little League Complex off Creek Road, my first thought was: This is the beginning of last chapter of this stage of our lives. James is 15 years old. He’s one of the older boys now in the Senior League. Another year or two of this, and he’s done with youth baseball. He’s trying out for the high school JV team. If he is good enough, JV and varsity baseball are in his future; town ball will soon be in his past. We’ve been coming to the Creek Road field now since 2006, 2007, something like that; 15 years. That’s a long time. And now, those days are numbered. I now know what it feels like for the parents of our graduating seniors at Marist. They’ve been chasing their kids around at meets and games for 10 years, 15 years. And then, poof, it ends. We’re not there yet. But getting closer.

And then the other thoughts. Maybe I think too much. A beautiful Saturday morning in April. How many Hyde Park Little League opening days have I missed? Pretty much all of them! Except that one spring (2015), when I was on the coaching injured list, and even then I don’t think I went to the actual ceremony and parade. Oh. There was no ceremony and there was no parade this year (of course, there was neither last year, either). But, the Creek Road fields were buzzing with people and kids and the snack bar was open and masks weren’t as prevalent as you would have thought … but it definitely felt normal. But it wasn’t. Grateful to be able to watch James play on the big field. But also, painfully cognizant that I wasn’t where I should be, which is a track meet somewhere, on an April weekend. Especially an April weekend with actual nice weather! This is tougher even than last year at this time, which was tough and weird and challenging. Why is this tougher? We’re the only school in the MAAC that is not playing spring sports (track included) right now. That stings. The kids call it FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). I call it MORES (Missing Out Really Essentially Sucks). For our athletes, who have already lost so much, having to see their peers at rival schools racing well in great weather … that’s MORES.

Sorry. The last two posts were hopeful. This one is more contemplative, more realistic. We remain hopeful. The College’s latest strategy is to get the entire student population vaccinated, which will lead to opening up more activities and giving Marist the wonderful feel of community that we all know and love. “More activities” includes athletics. Our athletic department needs a shot in the arm. Literally and figuratively. Now I’m back to the same theme. Will vaccinations save our season? They might. It’s a new race, and the clock is ticking loudly. Four weeks from today is Day 2 of the MAAC Outdoor Track Championships. That’s not a long time. Can we get that shot in the arm to get us back on the track? Hope is not a strategy, they say, but it’s the one we’ve got right now. 

More reason for hope

Maybe a 70-degree sunny day is positively impacting my disposition. Maybe it’s seeing the number of active Covid cases dropping by 7 in one day – from 149 to 142 (still high but not as high). Maybe it’s the announcement that vaccines will be made available to Marist students ON CAMPUS starting next Tuesday. Maybe it’s getting pictures of vaccine cards from our student-athletes who have been eager to get vaccinated since anyone over the age of 16 is now eligible in New York. But man, I think things are looking UP around here. Can the prevalence of vaccines help us salvage an outdoor track season? Last week, I wasn’t so sure. This week, I have great optimism that might exactly be the case.

Hear me out, all ye naysayers. There’s “vaccinated” and there’s “fully vaccinated.” We will not have a “fully vaccinated” team, or campus, anytime soon – probably not till early May at the earliest. But! One dose of vaccine, any of them, greatly reduces the risk of a positive Covid case, somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 percent effectiveness in blunting infection. Feel free to fact check me on that. I might not have the numbers exactly correct. But one dose of vaccine raises the reduction of risk from 0 percent to something significantly higher than 0 percent, something in the neighborhood of “way better than the flu shot every year.” Yeah, wow, now I’m really straying from good science. While I might be a bit scattershot with this, I do not think it’s bad science. I do think that the more sore arms we have – on our team, on our campus – as a result of vaccinations, the more we will see a reduction in spread and a reduction in numbers. Oh yeah, 70-degree sunny days help too! More time outside, less time inside. In-person classes resume on Monday, April 12. We are very hopeful that athletic team practices will also resume on that date.  

As a result? Sunday, April 18 is now circled on our calendar, in big fat black Sharpie marker. It’s the date of the Monmouth University Spring Invitational – and we’re invited to the party! Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to RSVP to this invitational with some actual entries of Marist athletes in an actual track and field meet. Now, that would be one of the neatest things to happen around here in quite a while. Stay positive. Test negative. Stay tuned, track fans.